Smoking & Grilling

@twilliams I have turned out picture perfect products and if you follow a graduated heat schedule and don’t exceed 180-190 degrees and be patient as it takes me 10-12 hours to get larger 73 mm sausage to reach internal temp and follow Jonathons recap you should be able to get the desired results… bottom line is I have turned out many batches with wrinkles and still never have had complaints about the taste or texture

@shane102 Well, leaving them out at room temp for an hour or so does more of that as most fridges are higher humidity than the normal air. If you vac pack something that is too warm you are almost certainly going to get humidity built up in the bag, so fridge overnight makes sure they aren’t warm.

-Sure cure is correct, technically it would be .48 oz but 1/2 is perfectly fine! -2.88 for the sure gel but again, 3 is fine -This is where we get into personal preference a little, 2 quarts of water per 25 lb batch will be fine but you can get away with less, which will “change” the consistency and will certainly speed up your cooking process. If you want to use a full quart for 12 lb that is fine but you might have an easier time if you use about 25 oz For Willies 2.5 cups is a little too much. ½ cup, 4 tbsp and 1 tsp is enough for 5 lb so it would work out to just about 2 cups, slightly less I think but very close. I would also recommend you do it by weight rather than volume. That weight would be almost 13 oz. Good luck!

@pigman34 Unless you are planning on switching to water around 130° F I would recommend starting earlier in the morning. 10 hours would be pretty standard depending on how thick your casings are.

The amount of pink cure you used it fine, I use 1 tsp of pink cure and 3 tbsps of kosher salt per 5# of meat. I normally mix at night and rest in the fridge to stuff and smoke the next morning. Did you mix it well? Cure should make it all darker red once cooked. If you have light spots I would wonder if you didn’t get the cure mixed in well. I am not familiar with the thermal process Waltons must have. I use a smokehouse and smoke low to dry casings and set in smoke flavor. Then later to hotter. If you got to 160 IT, you are fine with kill bacteria and can eat it. I still question the dark/light you speak of. Pictures would help.

@Screamin Like @MT-Elk-Hunter says both an oven and a smoker are basically boxes with heaters in them or attached. You can absolutely do summer sausage in an oven, in fact a lot of people do. You might want to consider adding Hickory Smoke Powder to give it a smoke flavor. Also, how low your oven will go will matter. If you have an oven that will run at 120° you are fine, if it won’t you might have to prop the door for an hour or so to start your smoke schedule around 120° and then step it up as you go.

@craigrice We always smoked them right after stuffing and then wrapped them in freezer paper ( cloth sacks don’t protect them from freezer burn) and then froze them till it was time to cook them

That’s a great observation about the sausages tasting better the next day. The same thing happens when I make stew, soup, or chili. It always tastes better the next day. I agree with you that spices give a great flavor and aroma immediately when cooked but have more to offer as they have a chance to sit longer. In reply to the one question about how long the sausage sits in the fridge…I follow the same procedures as most - from smoker or oven to the ice bath, air dry, then to the fridge for a few hours. My procedure from here will probably differ from others. After the sausage has sat in the fridge, I vacuum pack the sausage and put it back in the fridge for a few more days to a week before freezing.

@AdamCA Yes Sir ! when I hit about 150deg it started smoking. It took a total of about 5.5 hrs when internal hit 160deg then gave it an ice bath. Tried it today and I was very impressed with the flavor. It took a 12 pack of heffe weiss with my buddies to wipe out a half stick! Now on to snack sticks - thanks for the help ! Uncle Dave DSCN3069.JPG .

@Jonathon Thank you! I will have to pick one up.

@dlyden My thoughts are that everyone needs a pizza oven whether they realize it or not! I hope to one day have a full scale wood burning oven in my backyard.

@Rogers That’d be my guess, it just looks like fat pockets, I could be wrong but that’s what it looks like to me. Sure gel is probably my favorite binder that we sell it’s a little more expensive than carrot fiber but it probably does a little bit better of a job, so if you are having a specific problem then I would say go with the sure gel for a batch or two and then see if you can get the same results with carrot fiber.

Hey guys I have had great results with using jerky seasoning meant for whole meat to season ground jerky. I use 1.2 times the recommended. This idea is not mine, I have to give credit to Shore Lunch Jerky Seasoning kits. It works !

Smoker had plenty of room. Had large water pan so had plenty of humidity. Started at 125 for an hour, went to 145 for an hour, went to 155 for two hours, went to 165 for an hour then smoked at 175 till finally hit internal temp of 160. Casings looked good all the way through till the end when they wrinkled. If would have taken out at 155-158 would have been perfect looking.

I do over 200 lbs of smoked sausages and 100 lbs of smoked fish a year and have found that the five most important considerations in purchasing a smoker are #1 The temperature control range and stability, #2 The size of batches you want to do at a time determined by the physical size of the smoker, #3 The smoke Generator mechanism, I like using the A-Maze-N 12" and pellets, #4 The cost of fuel used to operate the smoker, I just converted mine over to Natural Gas, and last but not least how much money or time and energy you want to spend to get a good smoker Dave

@gerry-johnson If you are going with a insulated container I’d go with electric. I just used a turkey fryer burner from amazon but my smoker is open. I wouldn’t put gas into a sealed container. You’ll also need to put a in and out for air flow. I’d bet that you’d be able to use a single electric hot plate, they even have doubles on amazon, pretty cheap–$10-$15 for a single. that way you could put sawdust in one and water in another. If it seals you’ll be suprised how much heat it will hold so you won’t need a lot of heat from a propane burner, probably overkill. If you do get a propane make sure you get a controller with a needle valve, it really allows for fine tuning of the fire. But I’d recommend starting with electric and get some wood sawdust from Waltons. I really like mixing the alder with hickory.

Im in no real rush, i would just like to see the capabilities of the smoker and if it would be a good fit for us. Also it would be a great thing for others who are interested in a full sized commercial smokehouse. Thanks!

I find that most home use smokers are too short to hang any sausage. I just use the racks and go with it.

@lmhayes88 you don’t 100% need a binder, but I’d recommend it. Also, just to make sure you use your meat gun before you hold it overnight, otherwise it might set up and break your meat gun. Yes, you can use your smoker the entire way as long as it starts low enough. We’d recommend 120-125° but if your smoker will start as low as 150° then your oven probably starts that low as well so maybe not a reason to start in oven? Though, for best results, I’d still say prop a door in your smoker or oven to get an hour in at 120 (ish)°.

@craigrice Thin sliced deli beef